MEASURED · 30 SEPTEMBER 2026

Gold price history: 100 years of prices, and every crash since 1971

In 1925 gold cost $20.67 an ounce, a price set in US law. On 29 September 2026 the London afternoon price was $4,163.40, 23% below the record it set in January. This is every year in between, in the dollars of the day and after inflation, and every time since 1971 that gold fell 20% or more: how far it fell, and how long it took to get back.

The short version

• A 20% fall is routine for gold. The falls that stopped short of 30% were all back at their old peak within 3.4 years. The seven that went deeper took 3.6 to 28 years.
• Buying on the first day gold closed 20% below its peak was a coin flip: a year later it was higher eight times out of 15.
• Gold rose in 34 of the 54 calendar years from 1972 to 2025. Its typical year was +5.1%, but its best and worst years were +118.8% and -27.5%.

Gold price history chart

The chart shows gold’s average price in every month from August 1971, when the US stopped exchanging dollars for gold, to August 2026. It is on a log scale, so a rise from $100 to $200 looks the same size as a rise from $2,000 to $4,000.

Where gold stands now

Gold set its record of $5,405 an ounce on 29 January 2026. The next day it fell 7.83% to $4,981.85, the fourth-largest one-day fall since 1971. It first closed 20% below the record on 8 June 2026, which by the usual definition makes this a bear market, and its lowest close so far was $3,993.55 on 16 July 2026, 26.1% down. On 29 September 2026 it was $4,163.40, 4.3% above that low.

Nobody knows where this fall ends, and nothing below predicts it. What the record can tell you is how the 15 earlier falls played out, which is in the crash table.

What is gold’s all-time high?

Gold’s all-time high is $5,405 an ounce, the London afternoon price on 29 January 2026. It closed at a new record on 382 days between August 1971 and 29 September 2026, including 53 in 2025 (only 1979, with 56, had more) and 12 in 2026. Old records can stand for a long time. These are the ones that lasted a year or more, and the one that stands now:

London afternoon (PM) closes. The running high is taken from April 1968, the start of the LBMA daily record, and counted from 16 August 1971. Whether buying at a record has paid off is measured in is gold a good investment?

Gold price history over 100 years

For most of the last century the US government set the price. Under the Gold Act of 1900 the dollar was worth $20.67 an ounce. On 20 April 1933 the US suspended the gold standard, and late that year the government bought gold at rising prices; we leave 1933 out because it has no single price. The Gold Reserve Act, signed on 30 January 1934, fixed the price at $35, and dollars could be exchanged for gold at $35 until the evening of 15 August 1971. US citizens could not own gold freely again until 1974.

Adjusted for inflation, the fixed price was anything but stable. At $35, gold in 1934 was worth $876 in August 2026 dollars. As prices rose and gold stayed at $35, that fell to $309 by 1970, the lowest real price of the century. The market price did not beat 1934’s real value until 1974.

Every year from 1971 is in the table further down.

How much has gold gone up per year?

Since August 1971 gold has risen 8.8% a year on average, from $43 an ounce to $4,411 in August 2026. After inflation that is 4.7% a year. The recent past has been far stronger than the long run: 19.8% a year over the last five years.

Monthly averages at each end, to August 2026. “A year” is the compound rate: the steady yearly rise that turns the starting price into the ending one.

Gold price by year since 1971

Gold rose in 34 of the 54 years from 1972 to 2025 and fell in 20. Its longest run of rising years was 12, from 2001 to 2012; its longest run of falls was 5, from 1988 to 1992. The best years were 1979 (+118.8%), 1974 (+72.0%), 1973 (+67.2%); the worst 2013 (-27.5%), 1975 (-24.5%), 1981 (-23.8%).

Monthly averages. “Change” runs from one December’s average to the next; for 2026 it runs to August 2026. The 1971 row covers the whole year, including the months before the gold window closed.

Gold price in 1990, 2000, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2020

The years people look up most, with what an ounce bought at that year’s average was worth in August 2026, when gold averaged $4,411.

Every gold price crash since 1971

We counted a crash the way a stock bear market is counted: a fall of 20% or more from a peak in the daily London afternoon price, ending at the lowest close before a 20% rally. Since August 1971 there have been 16, the last still under way. The median completed fall was 29%, and it took 18 months from peak to low. How much of the 2026 fall rising real yields and a firmer dollar explain is measured in why is gold going down?

London afternoon (PM) prices, US dollars. “After inflation” restates both ends in the same dollars using the monthly CPI. A crash is dated from its peak close, so a fall that followed a partial rally counts separately: from $850 in January 1980 to $296.75 in June 1982 was -65.1% in total, but a 48% rally in 1980 splits it into two lines.

How long did gold take to recover?

The median was 3.4 years from the peak to the first close above it, but that middle hides two different outcomes. The eight falls that stopped short of 30% were all back above their peak within 3.4 years. The seven that went deeper took between 3.6 and 28 years, four of them 18 years or more. The catch is that you only learn how deep a fall was after it ends; the current one was 26.1% down at its lowest close so far.

Should you buy gold after a 20% fall?

A common rule is to buy once a market is down 20%. Here is what that did for gold. We took the first close 20% or more below each peak, then measured how much further the price fell and where it stood a year later.

A year later the buyer was ahead eight times out of 15. In five of the falls the low came within 2% of that first 20%-down close, but in six gold went on to fall another 20% or more; the median further fall was 10%. That is a coin flip, not a rule, and with 15 falls the record is too short to show whether it is anything more. For the current fall, gold on 29 September 2026 was 3.6% below its first 20%-down close.

What was the price of gold in 1980?

Gold averaged $607.80 an ounce in 1980. It peaked at $850 on 21 January 1980, which is $3,660 in August 2026 dollars. The January average was $675, or $2,906 today. The peak did not last: the next day gold fell 13.24%, the largest one-day fall since 1971, and within 4 days it was 20% down.

Someone who bought at $850 waited 28 years, until 3 January 2008, to see that price again, and 46 years, until 3 September 2025, to break even after inflation. How gold has held up against rising prices more generally is in is gold a good hedge against inflation?

Gold’s biggest one-day moves

Across 13,838 trading days since August 1971, gold moved 2% or more in a day 8.4% of the time. Most of the extreme days cluster around 1980. One of the biggest falls is recent: 30 January 2026, the day after the record, ranks fourth.

Is gold more volatile now?

Over the last year, yes. In the twelve months to 29 September 2026, gold’s median daily move was 1.01% and it moved 2% or more on 22.2% of days, a share no earlier twelve months had reached since the year to September 2009. In the 1990s it was 2.1%.

What happened after gold’s best years?

Gold has gained 30% or more in a calendar year eight times since 1972. The next year was up in six of the seven with a full following year, but five of the eight were in the 1970s, so this is mostly one decade repeating itself. It is too few years to act on.

December average to December average, the same measure as the yearly table.

What this means if you buy or trade gold

• Size for a 20% fall, because one is coming. Gold has had one about every 3.4 years. If a 20% drop would force you to sell, the position is too big for this market.
• Your entry price can cost you decades. A buyer at the 1980 peak waited 28 years to get their dollars back. Spreading purchases over time avoids betting everything on one price.
• “Down 20%” is not a buy signal on its own. It was right eight times in 15 a year later, and six times gold fell another 20% or more first.
• Stops that fit the 2010s are too tight now. With 2% days on 22.2% of sessions instead of 5.1%, a fixed stop gets hit far more often. We measured fixed against volatility-scaled stops in should a gold stop be fixed, or scaled to volatility?, and the weekend gaps that jump stops in gold’s weekend gaps.
• These are prices, not your returns. The IRS taxes gains on collectibles, coins included, at up to 28%, and dealer spreads, storage and fund fees come off too.

How gold compares with owning the stock market is in gold vs the S&P 500, and whether silver was the better buy in the gold-silver ratio, tested. For intraday behaviour, see our gold trading statistics.

How we measured it

Monthly and yearly prices: the World Bank’s commodity price data (the “Pink Sheet”), the London price averaged over each month, from 1960. We checked it against LBMA monthly averages (0.12% apart on average over 661 months) and against our own broker’s XAUUSD prices (0.12% on average, never more than 0.65%, over 151 months from February 2014). Daily prices: the LBMA Gold Price PM in US dollars, from 16 August 1971 to 29 September 2026, for the record, the 1980 peak, every crash and the biggest days. Before 1960: the official US price.

Inflation: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index (CPI-U) from 1960, and before that the CPI series in Robert Shiller’s market data, which matches the BLS index to 0.0005% on average where both exist. Real prices are in August 2026 dollars. Crashes: a fall of 20% or more from a closing peak, ending at the lowest close before a 20% rise. “Back above the peak” is the first close at or above the old peak.

None of this includes costs, storage or tax, and a saver outside the US had a different experience in their own currency. The method behind all our studies is published alongside them.

Common questions